In the Old Testament, God instituted catechism for the covenant nurture and training of children. Many texts such as Genesis 18:19, Exodus 12:26ff, and Deuteronomy 6,9, and 11 demonstrate that this practice was commanded by God and Romans 2:18 confirms that it was indeed practiced. Given that backdrop, it is not surprising that the New Testament itself provides ample evidence of the fact that the Church of the Apostolic era was also a catechizing Church (Luke 1:4; Acts 18:25; 1 Corinthians 14:19; Galatians 6:6; Hebrews 6:1-2). Moving into the 2nd century, and all the way through the fifth century, we can see that the Church committed itself to catechism. At the time of the Reformation, both the Lutheran and Reformed churches, as early as the 1520's also were committed to the practice of catechezing. This sermon examines the Biblical and historical evidence for the necessity and duty of catechism, and concludes with a series of applications exhorting both parents and members to catechize and to present themselves for churchly catechism on the Lord's Day. |
